Rice lake 2023

[Dash 1]

Hit rice lake by Paynesville Monday. Just a couple 3-4 lb northerns. Water temps started at 58 early and jumped to 64 by time I finished.  Did not find any crappie as I usually do around opener other years. 

[fishingstar]

fished it over the weekend. Caught 2 sunniest and a bass with 7 people fishing. 

[smurfy]

no walleyes???????? how busy was the lake?????i'm hearing alot of lakes werent all that busy????

[Dash 1]

About a dozen boats on water Monday on Rice. Only 2 or three rigs at the landing on south side. Guy I talked to said landing about half full on weekend when he was there.  

My dad went past Koronis access Saturday morning and said it was packed as well as the bridge with shore fisherman. 

[deanbaron1990]

Been a while since I've been on here. Hasn't been a great start to the year on Rice for me but this past Saturday was probably the best fishing I've had on this lake. I managed to pull in a 24" walleye on a 1/4 oz bucktail with a small leech. Shortly after that we pulled in another 24" walleye. We also got a decent northern and a few sunnies and perch along the way too. I had a lot of other bites but the walleye is the only one I was able to reel in. 

 

I also pulled in a 10" sunnie on Memorial Day right off the dock with a nighcrawler on a small jig. I haven't caught much this year but what I have caught has been pretty good size. 

 

I'm guessing the walleyes will be deep after this coming week with temps in the 90s all week. Water temp was about 72 on Saturday (and it had actually gone down, it was 77 the weekend before). I've seen plenty of other boats pull in good size walleyes and northerns. Seems like they've been more active this year than I've seen the past few years, but maybe that's just me.

[fishingstar]

nice fish

[deanbaron1990]

Didn't get nearly as much fishing in this weekend as I had hoped because it was so darn hot. Did manage to get out Saturday and Sunday mornings. Nothing crazy but did get a couple of nice crappies and a decent northern (didn't get a pic). Caught a painted turtle off the dock while fishing for sunnies. Never had that happen before. That was an interesting time getting the hook out of his mouth. 

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by deanbaron1990

[deanbaron1990]

Couple of nice walleyes (18" and 19") yesterday morning in the usual part of the lake. It was pretty quiet until about 9:00 when we hit three walleyes pretty quick in a row. One of the other guys in our boat got a 14 or 15" walleye. Hard to find leeches this time of year but the walleyes seem content on eating nightcrawlers as a substitute. Water temp was down to about 72 degrees, probably from all the rain earlier in the week. We got all of our walleyes in about 11 FOW. Got one on a jig and the other on a jointed crankbait. The one on the crankbait absolutely smacked it from the get go which was fun.